For most people, hatsumode is just a ritual they engage in as a tradition and cultural experience, not a religious experience.

atheism and spirituality...isn’t the same about the way we think about it in the west.

I am imagining you clutching your pearls and retreating to your ‘fainting couch’.

Entitled and stupid is a bad combo my friend.

As a westerner, the idea of going to a place of religious worship as a group work activity is so blatantly horrifying and offensive to me that I don’t even know what to think here.

I’m a westerner and it is just as unoffensive to me as it is as offensive to you considering most constitutions guarantee freedom of and from religion. If they were forced to by their employer then that is another issue.

Basically, Shintoïsm is a kind of “non-deistic” religion where while there are very powerful beings, none can be construed as “god”. It’s animistic, as in, nearly everything as some kind of spirit to it (like native-american spiritism). Thus for those who are not activevely practicing, it’s kind of a folk tale all…

Atheism is very weak outside the Christian sphere (as it generally rose due to political conflicts with Clerical bodies).

Shinto practice is more cultural than religious for a lot of the population. It’s sort of like how lots of non-christians exchange gifts etc. at christmas.

You’re horrified? You don't know shit about Japan and should also be ashamed for your militant atheist views.

Japan views religion very differently than we do in the west. It’s not a big deal there, most people wouldn’t call themselves “religious.”

PRETTY BOLD, AREN’T WE!? I’LL TAKE CARE OF YOU MYSELF

Then you would LOVE my favorite Dreamcast game, Confidential Mission :) It was basically a total rip of James Bond. So much fun.

I too have nothing to contribute and am now posting that message.

Trump is the culmination of decades of republican cruelty and race baiting. He is the ultimate republican and hopefully he will be the last republican president. Anyone who still calls themselves a republican has just outwardly embraced the fascism that is the core of republicanism since Nixon. They should all go to…

Same. so very much the same. It’s been a year of toxic gamers basically screaming and threatening devs to put everything they want into a freaking game.
It’s time for the media outlets like Kotaku, IGN, GameInformer etc to start putting babies in their place and stop encouraging this behavior

I absolutely agree and I keep wondering when people will figure this out. I mean almost all of us are idiots in our late teens and early twenties and even those that aren't total idiots still have valuable life lessons to learn. It's called maturing and it takes time. The problem is when someone becomes super…

You can target any enemy by holding L2. This works on bosses, too. Or do you mean something else by "complete lack of a targeting function/camera"?

Actually she was designed by a woman by the name of Aya Takemura. But okay....

Men who have seen *real* women know they only wear conservatively long dresses and show no skin whatsoever unless they're feeling a bit kinky in which case an ankle bone may be flashed.